| Long established as a major regional art award, attracting entries from artists nationwide, the Whyalla Art Prize is a biennial Award with prize money increased to $25,000 making it one of the richest acquisitive Awards in Australia.
The judges of this event were artist Daryl Austin and Akky van Ogtrop. Akky has been Assistant Director of Galerie d'Eendt in Amsterdam, organising exhibitions of paintings, prints and sculptures by Dutch and international artists and, after moving to Australia, became Manager of Stadia Graphics Gallery in Sydney, one of the first and foremost galleries in works on paper.
Both Daryl and Acky paid compliment to my entry "Talking to the Muses about Art" and noted that it was out of the eventual winner (Gosia Wlodarczak from Melbourne) and my own work for the $25000 prize. Considering that the magnificent work of 2002 Archibald winner Cherrie Hood was also hanging, it was very pleasing to hear. My work sold on opening night to the Chair of Country Arts SA Steve Grieve.
The official opening was Friday 25 November 2005 at the Middleback Theatrer Gallery where the works were exhibited until 27 January 2006.
"Talking to the Muses about Art"
is a large oil on canvas diptych which is featured below along with closer detail photos at left. This work marks the beginning of a new series of paintings which will be unveiled in 2006. A review of the painting can be found via the link at left.
Description: The painting is
a large oil on canvas diptych approx 2metres X 120cm and features three painters at the end of a table (Brett Whiteley, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Vincent Van Gogh). The table is also a barron Australian landscape with the foreground area being a resting spot for various art materials and a cup of coffee which has an actual handle petruding from the canvas (I dropped a cup one night whilst painting and collaged on the broken handle).
There is a lot of text scratched into the paint (with the back of a brush) which I have reproduced below for readability. There is also a fair use of collaged material scattered about the painting. A letter from Australian artist George Gittoes More.., a CD of Miles Davis along with a notepad with some of the other music I have been listening to in recent months whilst painting this work. Jigsaw pieces, pencils, pencil shavings, a loaded paint brush, a matchbox and even a reproduced letter in Vincents pocket to his brother Theo (the original 1883 letter had a sketch included aptly titled "People in the Studio" More..). I have also included a reference to a letter from an artist friend in the US who used a Andy Warhol stamp on the envelope. Painted within the landscape are two small easels with two of my previous paintings on them ("Miles Davis" and "Pots" which hangs in my studio at present).
SCRATCHED THOUGHT: The text featured in the background of the painting has been literally scratched into the paint and is my own original prose. It reads as follows:
Paint on regardless. Paint on through expression & meaning. Paint on through metaphor and symbolism. Paint on through elaboration & simplicity. Paint on through caffeine & turpentine. Paint on through the early hours. Paint on through imagination & mystery. Paint on through inspiration & interpretation.Paint on through self doubt & apprehension. Paint on through solitude & crowded thought. Paint on through fashion & trend. Paint on through stumbling blocks & open doors. Paint on through dishonesty & distraction. Paint on through routine & boredom. Paint on through broken charcoal & broken spirit. Just paint on.
Paint on through broken rules & pushing boundries. Paint on through textured passage & scratched thought. Paint on through form versus content. Paint on through figuration & landscape. Paint on through reality & exageration. Paint on through infatuation & interpretation . Paint on through motivation & passion. Paint on through responsibility & deadline. Paint on through key & contrast .Paint on, Paint on, Paint on.
Paint on through expectation & surprise. Paint on through 3AM & exhaustion . Paint on through exhilaration & dissapointment . Paint on through misunderstanding & enlightenment. Paint on through stereotype & label . Paint on through collage & memory. Paint on through spontaneity & laboured thought . Paint on through ignorance & envy. Paint on through music & silence. Paint on through the sound of brushwork & the smell of linseed oil . Paint on through circus, canvas & colour . Paint on through age & beauty. Paint on through influence & originality. Paint on through Modigliani & Miles. Paint on through blank canvas & empty palette. Paint on through exhibition & inhibition. Just paint on.
Another view of the scratched text between the two figures of Whiteley and Basquiat.
Detail of circus tent. Highlights of white were added by spatular. The circus is a recurring motif in my work, having travelled with them as a young child with my family where my father was a singer.
The mug in the foreground features an actual handle from a coffee cup which protrudes from the surface of the canvas.
Three pencils. One real, one painted and one a collaged photo from a magazine.
A map of Ireland intertwined with the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia and a letter from George Gittoes the Australian War Artist.
Collaged pad listing some of the music played in the studio during the paintings progress.
Further fine detail of the painting featuring a collaged jigsaw piece. There is one near each artist and one next to the foreground cup. |
